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The Role of Lawyers in Politics
What no one at the time would have expected is that he would be the last corporate lawyer elected mayor of Kansas City at least for the next forty years. Nor could anyone anticipate that as attorneys lost political power in Kansas City, no other profession would step in to fill the civic gap. This shortfall culminated in the mayoral election of 2003 when a vulnerable incumbent, Kay Barnes, faced an almost comically weak field of opponents, none of whom was an attorney. In a nation inclined to protest the excess of attorneys in political life, Kansas City may soon be protesting their absence. Ike Davis could be the last of a vanishing breed, the widely respected corporate attorney and gentleman mayor. It may no longer be possible to produce another candidate quite like him. A graduate of KU and MU law school, Davis returned to Kansas City at the precocious age of 22 and immediately went into the practice of corporate law. He had barely settled in when World War II broke out, and Davis soon found himself in Manila working on the staff of Douglas McArthur. This experience produced in an entire generation of Americans a sense of responsibility and community that will be hard to duplicate. When Davis ran for mayor in 1963 he did so because he felt it as much his duty as was serving in the Pacific. As his son, Chris Davis notes, "He had support from people at all levels." This included active prompting from people like Miller Nichols, who kept urging him to run even in this highly contested race. Unlike like so many other aspirants, then and now, he did not run out of a lust for power or to enrich himself. As case in point, at the time of his election, he was serving as Chairman of the old Baltimore Bank, which had, some time before, profitably secured many of the city's deposits. Immediately, Davis ordered the bank to divest lest there even be an appearance of impropriety. Davis ran because of a sense of duty and also, as Chris Davis notes, "He loved it." World War II produced in an entire generation of Americans a sense of responsibility and community that will be hard to duplicate. Much has changed since 1963, especially in the legal community. When veteran attorney Jack Craft, now of Craft, Fridkin & Rhyne, came to Kansas City in 1965 to work for the firm that would one day mutate into Lathrop & Gage, he was its seventeenth attorney. Today, Lathrop & Gage has more attorneys than that in estate planning or environmental law alone. The city's largest law firm at the time, Stinson & Mag, had 44 attorneys. Upon being hired, Craft was paid less than his schoolteacher wife. "The practice was more leisurely and less competitive," says Craft. This difference allowed attorneys, especially young attorneys, the opportunity to be more engaged in civic affairs. As Chris Davis observes, "The model has changed dramatically." Jerry Riffel, now with Lathrop & Gage, got caught in the transition between models. A prominent city councilman from 1979-1987, Riffel was poised to continue the tradition of activist, reform-minded attorney- mayors. He had even made up his mind to run for mayor with the thought that he would hold out until 1991 when he would not have to face an incumbent. In the meantime, reality intervened. "I had worked so hard at politics and making a living," says Riffel, "that I had to put my per- sonal life back in order." Not only had the business of law intensified dramatically, but as Riffel notes, "Politics had gotten so competitive it required too much attention." Had Riffel run in 1991, he likely would have secured corporate
support and won fairly easily. At the time, Emanuel Cleaver
was considered
a long shot. Had Riffel run in 1991, he likely would have secured the bulk of local corporate support and won fairly easily. At the time, Emanuel Cleaver was considered a long shot. What guaranteed Cleaver's election was another phenomenon that has aided the dissolution of corporate and legal power in Kansas City: the move by so many of Kansas City's corporate elite to the suburbs, including many of area attorneys. In 1991, when a civic-minded group of movers and shakers met to unite behind a mayoral candidate, they made the major PR blunder of meeting in Kansas. The man they chose to support, college administrator and political neophyte Brice Harris, never recovered. In fact, the one corporate attorney in the race, Dick King (now Pres. & CEO of King Hershey), positioned himself against the power structure and Brice Harris. Cleaver snuck through when Harris and King leveled each other in a memorably brutal primary. By 1995, Cleaver had managed to win over much of the corporate support. Although attorney and city councilman Dan Cofran, now with Spencer Fane Britt & Browne, was cut from the Davis-Riffel mold, he ran against Cleaver in 1995 without any unified backing from the legal community. Cofran did respectably in 1995, but he chose not to run in 1999, when he would likely have won, in part because of the "financial sacrifice" involved. "When Davis was mayor, he really was a part time mayor," says Cofran. "He still maintained an active practice." As Cofran and the others acknowledge, that is just not feasible anymore. Corporate law and public office are both too consuming.
Today, more lawyers work within the corporation than in the past. Many others live outside Kansas City, MO or the area altogether. Too many of those who live in the city are too busy or too prosperous or not yet prosperous enough. And yet in many ways the respected, well connected corporate attorney makes for an ideal mayoral candidate. "Attorneys are familiar with legislation," notes Chris Davis, "and they are not conflict-averse." And unlike full time politicians, says Dan Cofran, attorneys tend to "temper government with real world concerns." If Ike Davis is a model mayor, high profile corporate attorneys are also likely to be smart, ethical, and well connected. "He was really great," says Jack Craft who knew Davis well. "He understood government, and he understood the law." Ike Davis stepped down in 1971. In 1972, thanks in no small part to his efforts, Kansas City International Airport opened. So did the Truman Sports Complex, Crown Center, and the River Quay. These projects were soon followed by Bartle Hall and Kemper Arena. It hasn't been that good in KC ever since. |
When Ilus "Ike" Davis was elected mayor in 1963, it did not seem like an exceptional event. At the time, he seemed merely one of a series of influential, civic-minded lawyers to play a prominent role in Kansas City's affairs, particularly on the reform side of the ledger.